


Rogue Planet

by Gamma Andromedae (Amrei)



Series: Red-Burning Galaxy [1]
Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 19:41:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3459485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amrei/pseuds/Gamma%20Andromedae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seraphi Abrasax was not broken.<br/>She was still strong, still imperturbable, and a single word from her lips was enough to change the universe. She was strong and no simple man would ever be able to break her, even if she had forgotten to mistrust his motives over the years...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rogue Planet

**Author's Note:**

> ... Originally I actually planned to write some Julem, but when I worked on the backstory I got a little hung up on Seraphi. Well, let's just say it got out of hand pretty quickly and the result is this series. Maybe I'll actually get the chance to write some Julem when I finish it ;)

The glasses were encrusted with rubies, drops of wine frozen in the second of their fall, unchanging just as those that held them, gathered in a grotto of nature build from precious stones and silks. A grand spectacle of false delicacy and opulence, none of which would last for longer than the feast. While they didn’t change, their interests certainly did and once the newness faded it would be nothing more than a gaudy show of power. It was a colossal waste, but what did it matter?

Come daylight even the diamonds would once again be nothing more than sparkling stones and in all honesty it was only a superficial reminder of her power anyway. Space was full to the brim with precious metals and stones, while she dealt in life, the one thing that made everything else pale in comparison.

Still, at least for the moment the gems still held the evening’s spell and that was all Seraphi asked for right now. A subtle reminder that for her it merited no second thought to waste this wealth in a single evening, that she was still strong and imperturbable, even when she could her them whisper behind raised hands.

_…cast him out … knew what it was all about… poor dear... heartbroken… too soft… again… should know better by now… said she caught him… how she can stand this I do not…_

It was amusing in truth, how excited they could get over the idea of a scandal. As if it was that easy to tear into her. As if she would let them get away with their stares if they could truly hurt her. Seraphi gifted a pair of entitleds to her right with a ruby smile, as she passed them and their whispers calmed and raised like a wave with her proximity.

The truth was that if she was anything, she was tired of the feast before it had truly begun, but no matter how little ground the rumours had, tonight wasn’t for her, it was for them, for all those that were only waiting for a chance to usurp her, to see for themselves that she was not broken.

She held her half empty glass out to a bone pale android with wine-red lips. She had ordered it from half a galaxy away, but right now she had neither the taste nor the mind for it. If Seraphi had the choice she would have liked to leave the hustle of the festivity and go up to the observation deck on the highest point of the Abrasax residence orbiting around Orous, a sprawling structure of a size with most of the better settlements circling the planet. It had always been her favourite part of her family’s home in the galaxy. If one turned one’s head just so one could see the lights of Orous’ cities bleeding into each other over the continents, but if one looked the other way one saw right into the depth of space. When she had been small, Seraphi had loved lying on the deck and imagining that she was floating towards the stars, sinking through the darkness between them, until space swallowed her. It had at the same time been a feeling of utter loneliness and completeness, as if she was only a little step away from something great.

She still thought best out there and it was surprisingly refreshing to be able to take a pause from the never ending game of politics she already played for what felt like an eternity all on its own. She thrived in this game of power, but right now she would have given a minor planet to be able to drop her confident smile.

The wine had risen to her head, no matter that she had only gulped down half a mouth full, and left a pounding headache in its place. She could of course call for a pill or if she felt especially decadent – and more importantly brash – for a spoon of Regenex, to renew her nervous system in one completely overdone rush. She could look in their faces and smile and think what she couldn’t say but every single one of them knew anyway. _Yes, I can do this, I can waste the essence of life itself for a minor discomfort and you are all so dependent on me and the likes of me that you won’t be able to say a single thing about the utter depravity of this carelessness_. Seraphi closed her eyes for a moment and shuddered at the vivid images behind her eyelids.

It would be delicious and teach them to judge her, but in the end she just couldn’t muster the energy for yet another power play. Not right now. Maybe later, when the night had outlived its zenith and the music had transformed her headache into a skull breaking migraine and she had wine and maybe even men enough to sate her other needs. Quiet was not in the cards tonight, so she shouldn’t even bother with wishful thinking, but since him there had not been any other man or woman in her bed. _Or my bath or on my floor…_

Seraphi twirled a thick coil of her hair around her finger, this, too, heavy with ruby shards. Yes, it would be only fitting with regards to the unofficial occasion of the gathering and maybe it would chase away the heavy cold that still settled in her chest, no matter how irrational the feeling was. She was much too old to feel this lost over yet another man that had thought to use her.

She had known all along that he had ulterior motives, after all. She had known right from the moment he had first smiled at her over the mass of yet another apathetic gathering and it was right at the moment she had met his dancing eyes that she had decided that she would take whatever this laughing man would be willing to offer her in his try to gain a part of her influence. The kind of love that gaze had seemed to promise just wasn’t in the cards for the likes of her, people with the power to change the universe with a single word. There were only those you used and those that used you and that was fine with Seraphi. It was just how the universe worked.

So she had smiled to herself when he whispered words of love into her ear and leaned into his caresses, when they almost were able to make her believe their reverence. It was all smoke and mirrors of course, but it still felt good when he touched her, when she had someone she could whisper the ruin of her opponents to, someone who at least made her feel as if she was valued for more than her power.

She had known all along that it was nothing but a lie, but somehow her chest was still filled with ice, when he showed his true colours and his eyes no longer laughed at her.

Seraphi swallowed hard as she neared yet another group that beckoned her towards them. She had known all along, but it seemed a foolish part of her had forgotten over time.

She was not broken, not by something so mundane, so obvious as that, but a part of her still seemed to belong to the little girl that had looked up to the stars. She casually rested a hand on the arm of the man next to her. His eyes were black and deep and he had the almost blue-black skin of a sun worshipper. It was not the first time something like this had happened and no matter what she swore to herself now, it probably wouldn’t be the last time either, but right now she was wiser from the bitter true. It wasn’t long until his hand slipped under the slight material of her dress and caressed her back. The burning sensation similar gestures had ignited in her until recently wasn’t there, but she still pressed into the touch as she continued the conversation with the rest of the group. She would learn to appreciate hands not dusted with gold to touch her again.

 


End file.
